Meet the Artists

Aiza Ahmed (b. 1997, Lahore, Pakistan) is an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and video. Her practice engages borders, migrations, public histories, and private archives within diasporic identities originating from the Indian Subcontinent. Interweaving humor and performance, Ahmed constructs theatrical compositions drawn from archival and cultural sources that unsettle fixed ideas of nationhood, masculinity, and belonging. She is drawn to the spectrum of masculinity, those who project power and those forced to perform it. 

Ahmed received her MFA (Painting) from Rhode Island School of Design (2024) and BFA from Cornell University (2020). Her debut New York solo show, The Music Room, was presented at Sargent's Daughters (2025), followed by a solo presentation, Footnotes, at the inaugural Art Basel Qatar (2026). She has exhibited internationally and her work is held in public collections including the RISD Museum and Brown University, among others. Ahmed is the recipient of the 2025 Rema Hort Mann Emerging Artist Grant, including the Peter Hort Award recognition. She has participated in residencies with William Kentridge and the Centre for the Less Good Idea, The Macedonia Institute, Chatham, NY; Silver Art Projects, New York; and the Arts Intensive Study Program at Fire Station, Doha, Qatar.